Country's realty market to fetch $ 30 bln FDI in 10 years: Assocham

New Delhi, Dec 2 (UNI) Country's booming real estate market is likely to receive 30 billion dollars of foreign direct investment (FDI) against its total size of 102 billion dollars in next 10 years with an expected growth rate of more than 30 per cent, an industry chamber said today.

At present, the domestic realty market is expected to be of 14 billion dollars in which the FDI contributions is estimated between 5 to 5.5 billion dollars, industry body Assocham said.

''Currently, the foreign developers can undertake construction activities on a minimum space of 50,000 square feet as a result of which Indian real estate sector could achieve FDI's component to the extent of between 5-5.5 billion dollars,'' chamber President Venugopal N Dhoot said.

He said the chamber expects that the ceiling of 50,000 square feet would be lifted by the government as it is under constant pressure for increased FDI's which will increase to two lakh square feet in next 10 years.

During 2005-06, the bank credit to this sector was estimated about Rs 2,61,000 crore which will multiple substantially in the coming years in view of the growth that the sector has been registering, Mr Dhoot added.

The industry body has also projected that the foreign component investors part for the real estate development will come through private equity instead of institutional mechanism.

Mr Dhoot further said due to the increase in purchasing power and exposure to organised retail formats, retail projects have been mushrooming in smaller towns and cities which is likely to grow at about 35 per cent that will again create scope for real estate developers.

The real estate sector is expected to require about 200 million square feet space across the major and large townships, he added.

It is also estimated that in India's residential sector, the housing shortage is around 20 million units of which nearly seven million units are estimated for urban India.

Nearly 30 million square feet of organised retail space is currently available. Another 90 million square feet is likely to be added by 2008 from over 265 mall projects.

Out of these, 20 million square feet is slated to come up in Delhi and Mumbai and around 10 million square feet in Ludhiana, 5.8 million square feet in Chandigarh and 3.5 million square feet in Ahmedabad.

UNI